>Herein, I suspect, lies the crux of the problem: women are no longer required by law or custom to put out on male terms. With the provider/protector role wrecked, men no longer have any kind of lever with which to pry women's legs open. Sex is no longer a male entitlement.

And that's the infuriating part for some people, I think.<

Bingo. Witness Brightstar and MerelyMale's vitrolic reactions on this thread (hell, witness their reaction on _any_ thread. :)) It makes them crazy that they and guys like them don't have automatic access to "the candy store" (nice turn of phrase, Brightstar. It says everything about your attitude towards women right there.) It makes them even crazier that when they feel shitty about themselves, they can't automatically take that out on the girlfriends/wives they don't have. Oh, they can put down "fat, ugly" women on here all they want, but it's not as easy as it used to be for guys like them to make those women's lives actively miserable in real life.

>Save these men?<

It's a hoot how winger pundits and even seemingly-intelligent folks swear up and down that women can "save" men in this way. If a guy is a miserable jerk without you, he's gonna be a miserable jerk with (and to) you if you hook up with him, and no amount of hearts-and-flowers and "for the chilllldren" bullshit is going to change that.

>Those of us not partying and valuing ourselves by whether we're in a relationship with the biggest Alpha Male we can find are too busy earning a living and keeping our houses in order to bother with the drama.<

Ain't it the truth. Seriously, life is too short. There are places to see, things to experience, and fun to have. And no matter how these guys holler the "you'll die alone eaten by monitor lizards!" threats, the fact remains that having an solitary life beats being shackled to jerks any day. These guys can't even see women as human beings. They don't like themselves, and sure can't care about anyone else. So why would any sane woman want a lifetime of their garbage?

>Hillary`s ability to handle the rightwing slime machine makes her the candidate to beat.<

As well, her experience with Beltway politics and knowing how goverment works is what's got the GOP running scared in a major way One of their major long-term plans (and one they are close to achieving) is to have conservative appartachiks infiltrated throughout government on every level. If Hillary becomes President, she'll know where and how to deal with the problems those folks will bring--she won't have to have a learning curve.

>The Democrats have always assumed they had the liberal vote, it was funny to see the stink they raised when Nader called on their shit. Unless they do something to actually earn my vote, I am afraid that they may be in for yet another rude awakening.<

And when will that be? After the next Republican president installs enough conservative Supreme Court members and government functionaries to render the US a democracy in name only? For crying out frickin' loud--didn't purists like you learn your lesson from the 2000 election? Why don't folks like you just go Republican and be done with it? Hell, you might as well be handing your vote to them anyway, and nothing any Democratic candidate will do will ever be good enough for you.

>She is wound-up, controlling, very fit, exercises almost obsessively, stylish, manicured, well-dressed, doesn't laugh easily, wants the world to go her way. You could see these traits as "driven" and "ambitious",<

Nah. She's either a control freak, obsessive, or perfectionistic. One can be driven and ambitious without trying to run everything...

>but I don't see the results of her ambition (better job, degree, promotion, fancy title) making her happy. Instead, they make her more stressed out....The new boobs did not make a fundamental change in who she is as a person. She is still unhappy. She still exercises and works obsessively. She is still wound up and controlling.<

...because she doesn't feel she's "perfect" enough, and that is a standard no human being can obtain. No matter what she gets or accomplishes, she's never gonna be satisfied (unless she gets some therapy and learns that perfection isn't everything...or even possible.)

>What ever happened to leaving us the hell alone all summer, so we might wander outside for a second and read a book or have a conversation or sip on something cold and boozy?<

Ain't it the truth. I was doing real good when it came to ignoring summer series. I spend enough of the fall season in a state of anxiety over having to pick and choose between shows, and up until this year I insisted on taking the summer off. The lowest I ever sunk was when I accidentally caught a few minutes of BIG BROTHER, and that was easy to not get hooked on. (To say the least--g!) So what happens? MAD MEN comes along--a show so good I'm betting now that nothing in the new fall season will top it. Instead of me being able to be totally unaware of time on Thursdays and blissfully leisuring all over the place, I can't because the fiends behind MM have planted a little reminder in my head, "Hey, it's Thursday--MAD MEN is on tonight." I can't just go and hang out at the bookstore or in the backyard without checking the time. Noooo, I have to make sure that when it's 8:55, I'm on my way to my TV set to catch MM. Damm you, MAD MEN. Curse you to hell...:).

LOL!! Nope, just a regular citizen who can't believe she's gotten sucked into planning any part of her summer around a TV show...:)

In palmier, more innocent days this time of year, I would be running around my grandfather's place in West Virginia--or rolling through the Smokies to see my grandmother. :)